Seafort
by Gillan1220
Summary: The Principality of Sealand for half a century remained a rusty seafort in the English Channel. During the outbreak, this so-called self-proclaimed micronation served their leaders well. After the UK Epidemic and the European Epidemic, Sealand has always been what it is: a rusty seafort.


Taken from _A Drop of Blood: A Collection of Survivor Testimonies_ from the Rage Epidemic in the UK and Europe by Max Brooks. Published in 2012 to mark the 10th anniversary of the UK Rage Epidemic.

**Seafort**

**Harwich, United Kingdom**  
**June 30, 2011**

_The Principality of Sealand for half a century remained a rusty seafort in the English Channel. During the outbreak, this so-called self-proclaimed micronation served their leaders well. After the UK Epidemic and the European Epidemic, Sealand has always been what it is: a rusty seafort._

**[I am joined by Michael Bates, the self-proclaimed Prince of Sealand. He became the Prince following the passing of his father, Paddy Roy Bates, in 2009 due to combination of stress brought by the outbreak as well as traces of radiation from the French nuclear strikes on the northern coast of France. Today I meet the prince in this cafe in Harwich, a town near Suffolk that faces the English Channel. Harwhich just like any town was affected by the outbreak. Many British citizens fled to coastal cities and towns to hitch a boat to France or the Netherlands. The Bates family however had better plans. They headed to their seafort known as Sealand.]**

It was an ordinary night on May 4th, 2002 when we heard the news that there was unrest in Cambridge. Initially my father and my family thought it was just a simple riot. There was a total media blackout for a few days until Prime Minister Blair said the the rioters were infected by a virus that causes them to become violent. And that's when panic hit throughout the entire UK.

**So what did your father Paddy do?**

Well, my father got my mother, the princess Joan Bates, and my sister Penny and told us of a plan. The plan involved getting back to his self-proclaimed nation of Sealand. Prior to this, we already had supplies placed there since my father returned their time to time.

**[The waiter arrives with a plate of fish-and-chips followed by two cans of Coca Cola. Michael takes a few bites from his meal.]**

Funny thing. The whole world saw Sealand as a joke. Wanna know why?

**Uhh sure. I've read a few about Sealand.**

To the world and to some of the British, my father was a lunatic. Who in his right mind would set up one's own micronation in the middle of the sea? [Laughs]. Sealand had no running water, beyond collected rainwater that is, and had to be replenished by boat from mainland Great Britain. Hence why we did not spend much time there. My father was major in the British Army during World War II. On September 2, 1967, he occupied the fort previously known as HM Fort Roughs since he was pirate radio broadcaster. It was his protest against the country's broadcasting laws. He found a legal loophole: Fort Roughs was on international waters. Nobody's land. So basically he took advantage of that and set up his own nation what we know as the Principality of Sealand.

**[I take a few bites from my meal and sip from my drink.]**

A year later, British workmen entered what Bates claimed to be his territorial waters to service a navigational buoy near the platform. I was there that day. I scared the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. My father was still a British subject at the time. He was previously summoned to court in England on firearms charges following the incident. But as the court ruled that the fort was outside British territorial limits, being beyond the then 3-nautical-mile (6 km) limit of the country's waters, the case could not proceed. My father was a smart man.

In 1975, Sealand had its own constitution, passport, and currency that was pegged with the American dollar as it is to this day.

You probably heard of some incidents that I myself was involved. I was taken hostage during the Sealand Crisis around August 1978 by a German and Dutch mercenaries led by a bastard named Alexander Achenbach who proclaimed himself the Prime Minister of Sealand. All these happened because of a simple disagreement of turning the sea fort into a luxury hotel. It was outrageous. His mercenaries came with force of speedboats, jet skis, and helicopters. But the bastards underestimated me. I retook the fort and turned the tables on them. Revenge is sweet. [Laughs again, eats a few chips and drinks from his soda]. Achenbach, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than US$35,000 or £23,000). The West Germans then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Sealand to negotiate for Achenbach's release. Roy Bates relented after several weeks of negotiations and subsequently claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted _de facto_ recognition of Sealand by the Federal Republic of Germany. Those idiots would then established a government in exile, sometimes known as the Sealand Rebel Government or Sealandic Rebel Government in West Germany. I really do not know what happened to those bastards as those Infected ravaged Europe and frankly I don't care anymore.

Anyways before we start with our story, the last major thing that happened in Sealand was when my family revoked all Sealand passports. This was a mere five years before the outbreak. Before things went to shite.

Alright going back to the time of the outbreak, my family contacted our caretakers to slowly start shipping supplies back and forth. While panic already gripped the country, it was not yet as chaotic before everyone tried to hitch the nearest plane or ferry to France or elsewhere to Europe. With our already existing supplies in the fort, we loaded the supplies by boat through and from the port of Harwhich. We often did this at the cover of darkness because we did not want anyone following us. Sad to say Sealand could not support a large population. This was a dangerous task as the waters and the current were often rough. During our supply runs, we could see a large volume of planes, helicopters, and lights from offshore vessels heading to France. Then we also some of these ships blowing up as fighter jets sank them. We could only watch in horror. When London fell, my family and I plus our caretakers holed up in the fort for good. We listened to the news on the radio such as how many times our government changed capital. London became York which then became Edinburgh then finally to Belfast. We also heard battles and chaotic evacuations, the Queen's death from stress, deserters being shot, as well as the French sealing up the Channel Tunnel and false claims of the virus reaching Paris and New York.

These all happened in a span of 28 days. By then, our supplies surprisingly held. My father enforced strict rationing in order to extend what he had. As for plumbing and drainage, once the lavatory became unusable, we simply pissed and shat on the sea. Hey at least it didn't keep the fort from smelling. We heard stories about the Millennium Dome in London smelling so foul that it caused other outbreaks like cholera that even killed people, that is aside from the rape, mugging, and riots that occurred there. We were actually we weathered the Rage Epidemic in the UK well.

**So did you decide to return on your own or did something or someone tell you it was safe to return?**

I think it was around late June 2002 when we spotted several overhead flights from what we assumed were American or other NATO countries. Our fort came in contact with a helicopter coming from the Royal Netherlands Navy coming from a nearby warship called the HNLMS_ De Zeven Provinciën_. The helicopter came back with a squadron of Dutch Marines and offered to take us to a refugee camp set up in Norway where thousands of displaced British temporarily stayed. The Dutch Marines told us that the Infected were dying out of starvation and that contact was being restored with surviving communities in Britain. My father initially refused, saying we were well stocked here and he rather wait it out to return back to the mainland. They however told us that it would take a few more months for the repatriation to occur. My father finally relented and the Dutch took us to Norway while the U.S. Army and the Marines assisted our troops in clearing up coastal towns for the resettlement. We stayed in Norway until August 2002 when the towns of Dover and Folkstone were declared safe to return. Our family took a ship and resettled at Dover for the meantime. Harwhich had yet to be decontaminated.

**How did you guys react to the Second London outbreak on December 4-5, 2002?**

Well we were just doing our daily shifts in the community. We did not know about the outbreak at all. We only heard rumors about another outbreak in London. We only a limited Internet connections in Dover as well as limited radio. What baffled us though was the American troops that was peacekeeping Dover pulled out in a rush. No explanation was given. My father talked to one of the commanders there and he told us that the Pentagon declared a sudden withdrawal. Something definitely was wrong. We had to know it. When the Americans left, Dover was already stable. The community had its own police force, a small contingent of British Army soldiers meant to bolster the police, electricity, running water, and a waste disposal system. We did not know what really happened to London. No one was saying anything. It was only the day after Christmas when people started reporting about witnessing three bright flashes on the French coast followed by three mushroom clouds. That was enough for us to know what really happened. The virus returned but this time it was on Europe.

**What did the Dover community do to maintain order?**

The police and the soldiers announced a curfew to among the repatriates. There were those who men and women who were capable to fight given guns just in case the Infected would showed up. The lads and lasses were given hand me downs from World War II and the Cold War. I saw a handful of Sten guns, Sterling submachine guns, and the L1A1 self-loading rifle. Often times, I saw a young lad, must be 12 or 13, protecting his home with nothing but a Lee Enfield bolt-action rifle. Our local council was in contact with the resettlements of Folkstone and Portsmouth, where they relayed to us news from survivng communities up north that London indeed suffered a second outbreak and was firebombed by the USAF. They also confirmed that the virus reached Europe. How and why is unknown.

**Did you father consider running away back to Sealand?**

Yes he did. The problem was Harwich was a far away. There were very less cars to drive there and the boats were all reserved for emergencies. My father wanted to steal one of the boats and sail up northeast to Sealand but was talked out by my mother that it was better to stay in Dover where at least there were supplies and a group of people we could interact with.

**By the time the outbreak ended in 2003, where you able to return here in Harwhich or in Sealand?**

Yes we did. We remember the day seeing French, German, Dutch, and Danish refugees heading to the UK following the Fall of Europe. It was like Dunkirk 2.0. It was told that ironically the former United Kingdom or what was left of us weathered the European epidemic better. Everyone thought it was a wasteland but that thinking saved us. We are now currently starting to reclaim parts of country. It was a peculiar sight.

Come let us finish our meal and I can take you to a look at Sealand.

**[We then ate and drank. The waiter came with the bill with Michael insisting to pay for it. He then places a Sealand "visa" on my American passport. As we exited the cafe and into the waterfront, we passed by a ton of activities in the town. Children were playing again. It was a hopeful sight that one day Britain will be restored to its former glory. Michael then led me to a boat. He gunned the engine and drove all the way to the open ocean. We were now in international waters. A few minutes later, I could see a tall structure protruding out of the water. There it stood, the Principality of Sealand.]**

Oh tough luck mate. The current is strong today. Looks like you're gonna have to come back some other time then.

Oh that's fine.

Anyways here she is. Sealand. You can take a look at her. We survived here for a month when the virus hit the country. To enter this fort, you have to latch on to this pulley system. Unfortunately with the current right now, that would be dangerous and it would not be recommended to do so.

[Michael then circles the boat around the fort.]

You know what saved us? This whole self-proclaimed micronation thing and part of our little relevance to both the local and international community. Those who knew about Sealand laughed at us thinking we could not sustain our own country. The new generation may not even have heard of us even. And those who did probably did not bother for after all to their eyes it was just a rusty sea fort in the middle of sea. But that is what saved us and ironically we are one of the communities that weathered it best.

**[Michael drives the boat back to the waterfront of Harwhich. As we disembark, I thank him for this interview. He politely welcomes it and hopes that his story will be published soon. The Rage outbreak was a significant chapter in Sealand's history for the Sealanders outlasted it. Before I exit and we part ways, he asks for my U.S. passport, and there he stamps the Seal of Sealand.]**

Even if you weren't able to go to the fort today, I'll put this on since you were able to go near it at last. Lastly take this.

**[He hands me a box of souvenirs that contain a 3' x 5' flag of Sealand, postage stamps, pins, and other memorabilia.]**

It's the least I could do.

**Thank you, Michael.**


End file.
